Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

Our reasons for being here are clear from the Title to the Bill. This Bill arises because of the serious implications of landmark Supreme Court judgments in the Browne and Kennedy cases. The court found that a statutory instrument to give effect to European Community law can only be validly made where the Oireachtas has specifically provided for it in the relevant primary legislation. We are not reinventing the wheel. For the past 85 years, the Oireachtas has passed primary and secondary legislation, and has given power to successive Ministers to bring secondary legislation through statutory instruments. We are not asking the House to allow us to do anything that was not done in the past.

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